How does HFT activity impact market volatility and the bid-ask spread after an exogenous shock? An empirical analysis on S&P 500 ETF

In this paper, we empirically analyse infra-second datasets of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (specifically, the ETF of the S&P 500 exchanged on BATS, named SPY.Z) in order to explain how high-fre- quency trading (HFT) activities (aggressive and passive) impact market volatility and the bid-ask spread before and after an exogenous shock (i.e., the 2016 US presidential election). Using SPDR S&P 500 ETF datasets as a proxy for the market on regular volume trading days (November 3, 2016) and on high-volume trading days (November 9, 2016), we show that HFT, on average, has a disturbing action mainly on regular volume trading days, whereas on high-volume trading days, it appears to have a stabilizing effect by balancing both the volatility and bid-ask spread. That is, HFT as a whole has a more neutral impact on the market’s volatility and bid-ask spread than the single aggressive and passive components. In fact, aggressive HFT has a consistent ne- gative effect that increases, on average, both the volatility and bid-ask spread, whereas passive HFT displays a positive effect that decreases, on average, the volatility and bid-ask spread.